China wins $700 million Afghan oil and gas deal. Why didn't the US bid?
20.05.12
The United States and other Western nations that have borne the brunt of the cost of the Afghan war have been conspicuously absent from the bidding process on Afghanistan’s mineral deposits, leaving it to mostly to regional powers.
India is the only other nation to make a significant agreement to access Afghan minerals. In November, it won a bid granting Indian firms access to 1.8 billion metric tons of iron-ore, one of the largest untapped deposits in Asia .
US benefits?
While the US may not seek financial gains from Afghan minerals, it’s likely to reap political benefits from the creation of a more stable, less aid-dependent economy that could reduce the burden of America’s long-term commitments in Afghanistan. It also sidesteps many Afghans’ suspicion that the US is here to steal the country’s resources.
“Americans know that if we can create an environment for Afghanistan’s neighboring countries to have their economic benefits tied with the Afghans’ benefits, it will create a situation that stops the negative intervention of these neighbors and puts them in a better position to help create peace and stability in Afghanistan,” says Hamid Faroqi, a professor of economics at Kabul University . “The US and other Western countries also don’t want to get involved with this because they don’t want to get accused of being here just to take advantage of Afghanistan’s natural resources.”
Source: Christian Science Monitor